Switzerland pays farmers for landscape and biodiversity, over $3bn a year, not for output

The BBC reported in January 2018, as Britain debated post-Brexit farm support, on how Switzerland already pays farmers for looking after the land. After 1945 the Swiss government rewarded farmers with a generous milk price and a guarantee to buy all Emmentaler and Gruyère cheese. Globalisation ended those policies, and in the last 30 years the Swiss milk price per litre has halved.

Under the direct payments scheme, farmers receive money for public goods. Fritz Bernhard, near Berne, is paid for orchards of ancient apple, cherry and quince trees whose fruit has no commercial value, and for chestnuts, because those species would die out if left to market forces. He is also paid to look after a neighbouring nature reserve and keep its paths clear. His family earn 70% of income from food (beef, barley and malt) and 30% from payments.

The scheme costs over $3bn a year. The Swiss Farmers' Union says many farmers' turnover is 75% direct payments, and that most mountain farms would stop without it. Voters back it because of its emphasis on public goods.

Pay farmers for public goods the market does not price, such as biodiversity and landscape.

Cheap imports meant Swiss farmers, working small, difficult plots, could not compete on price.

Swiss consumers spend about 6% of income on food, and the government judged they would not pay much more.

Paying for biodiversity and landscape keeps species and the scenery tourists expect.

A payment tied to public goods has majority voter support.

When a market price cannot sustain something the public wants, pay for the outcome directly instead of propping up the product's price.

With the system Switzerland produces over half of the food it eats. The BBC says Switzerland's 50,000 farms receive over €2.3bn in direct payments, more than the UK's 200,000-plus farms get in subsidies ($3.4bn). Critics inside the sector worry the balance is wrong: Monika Bernhard said it can feel like being paid to create a façade and wants food valued more.